The Dangerous Widow

Phase One: Getting Information

The sun was moving up slowly over the horizon: the sunrise was beautiful and magnificent with beautiful ray of colours, it was like the sunset, but, in the morning.

It was yet another day, people woke up and carried on with their daily activities: going jogging, going to the gym, going for a morning walk, others were in their finest suits and headed to work. The stores and retails opened for the customers to do shop.

Bob was also preparing to go to his store and open it for the day. He cooked a simple but delicious healthy breakfast for himself. He also took the time to cook a heavy breakfast for his two guests who were still sleeping at that point in time.

He made his way to the lady’s room and knocked patiently on the door. He persisted with his knocking but no response came from the other side of the door. This made him to worry. He thought to himself that maybe they were only common people pretending to be Catherine's friends. He also thought that maybe they were thieves in disguise who had tricked him into his house so that they could rob him blindly.

He had no idea that Natasha and Emily were still sleeping comfortably in the big bed. He had no idea how much they had missed the comfort and the freedom that the world has to offer.

Nevertheless he continued knocking on the door until Natasha heard the knock.

“Just a minute!” Natasha yelled.

Hearing the response from Natasha gave Bob a sense of relief. His expression changed drastically. He had confirmation that the ladies were still inside the bedroom and were not thieves.

He spoke, “Breakfast is on the table.”

“We'll be there in a minute,” Natasha responded.

Bob walked back into the dining room and began to eat his breakfast. Not long, Natasha and Emily walked into the dining room; the both of them changed into simple clothes. They were all dressed up as if they were going out. Natasha had a bag in her hand she came with from prison.

When Bob saw the ladies in decent clothes, he couldn't help but ask respectively, “Are you going out?”

“Yes,” Natasha replied, “We have some important work that we have to do. We do not have time to waste.”

“What work?” Bob asked curiously.

Natasha thought to herself for a while, “If I tell Bob everything that we are planning to do, he will want to get involved. If he gets involved, it will be very risky for such a grown man.”

To hide what they were planning to do, Natasha quickly cooked up a lie: “We are in the process of buying a new house. As you know we are from prison. We want to quickly find a new house so that we can leave this house all for you again. We have some potential sellers that we must meet before it is too late.”

Comfortably, they sat down on the dining chairs. Natasha and Emily ate their food like people who were kept hungry for days. They chewed quickly and swallowed loudly. They washed down the food with a cold juice.

Bob watched in silence with his eyes glowing at the ladies as they ate like wild animals.

“What can I do to help you?” Bob inquired eagerly.

Emily refused saying, “No. We will take care of this alone. Besides, you have done for us more than we could ever repay you. You didn't let us in as strangers but as special guests, as Catherine's friends. We are truly humbled by your sense of hospitality .”

Bob had a bright smile on his face, “It's the least I can do.” He continued, “Tell me, Who are your potential sellers?”

“We have a lot,” Natasha responded quickly. “For example there is a woman by the name of Martha. She sells classic fancy houses. We are actually going to meet her today. She is on our top 5 list.”

“That is good to hear. If you need anything, please let me know,” announced Bob.

“As a matter of fact,” Emily began, “We are in need of some taxi fare. As you know we are from prison, we hardly have any money to buy water to quench our thirst or food to satisfy our hunger. ”

“That's not a problem,” Bob assured.

He stood up and walked to his bedroom. He later walked out and handed Emily K2,000.

“I hope this will be enough,” said Bob. He continued, “What time are you likely to return?”

“Do not wait up for us. We might not return today but surely we will return,” Natasha replied.

“Before I forget, the food is very tasty!” Emily complimented.

“Thank you,” he replied gladly.

After they finished eating their breakfast, they escorted Bob to his store.

Later, Emily stretched her hand outwards signalling for a taxi. Almost immediately, a taxi stopped beside them. They stepped inside the taxi.

“Where to?” asked the driver innocently.

“Brutal Army Prison,” Emily replied.

“Very well.”

On reaching their destination, Emily handed the driver his money and he drove away.

Looking at the huge facility, Emily spoke to Natasha, “This place is very big. It is sealed both inside and outside, It puzzles me that Catherine has the intentions of walking out from this place. You know the behaviour in that prison. You know how secure this place gets especially during the night.

She continued, “People have tried to escape from this place but they ended up dead. She knows about all these things yet she still wants to walk free.

“What do you think she'll do?”

“I have no slightest idea,” Natasha replied.

They saw a coffee shop at the end of the street. It was well organised. They walked to the coffee shop and made themselves comfortable waiting for General Rebecca to walk or drive out of the prison. They ordered some tea and snacks as they waited for the inevitable to happen.

Hours past quickly like falling leaves from an old tree. Time was 18:30, the sun was setting quickly and getting darker each minute. Nothing was happening. The gate was still shut.

It was a boring moment. They timidly watched people walking from one direction to another. Some of the attitudes of the pedestrian was uplifting while others were downgrading: full of misery and disappointment, anger and frustration.

“Is the general inside or maybe she did not report for work today,” they wondered to themselves. They continued, “How terrible it would be for us to go back empty handed.”

A yellow taxi parked in front of the coffee shop. A man stepped out of the taxi, “Wait for me here while I buy some donuts for my family,” The man instructed the driver.

Suddenly, Just when hope was about to be lost, the gate to the facility opened slowly and widely. A white police van drove out through the gate. Natasha and Emily were able to identify the car as the general’s car.

Natasha stood up immediately and spoke to Emily, “That must be her! Come let's follow her to her house before she's out of sight.”

They looked around swiftly and spoke, “Let's use that taxi parked over there!”

Quickly, they ran to the yellow taxi that had just dropped a man and jumped in and shut the doors.

“Drive!” Emily commanded the driver.

“This taxi is taken,” the driver retorted quickly.

“Just drive man!” Natasha yelled at the driver.

In fear, he put the car into drive gear and stepped on the accelerator pedal. With unstable speed and power, the car took off but the driver quickly took control of the car.

“Follow that car! Make sure you keep a safe distance. Drive normally; not too fast and not too slow.”

“But, that's a police car. I can't do that. What if I get in trouble?” replied the driver worryingly.

“How can you get in trouble if you are only a normal citizen who happens to be living in the same area as the General?”

“Ahhh! That's a General’s car we are following?!” The driver got frightened.

Natasha ordered, “Keep driving and don't stop until I say so!”

Nice and steady, the driver followed the General’s car. The distance was very safe. No one, not even the General had the slightest idea that she was being followed.

After minutes of driving through the city: turning left and turning right, slowing down and speeding up, the General’s car finally came to a stop and parked at a beautiful house.

General Rebecca got out of the car, walked into the house.

“I guess that is her house,” Natasha spoke to Emily.

Emily added, “It's quite simple for a woman in military. I expected something like a mansion. This house has just beaten my imagination.”

Moments later, a woman walked out of the house carrying a handbag.

“Who is that?”

“Judging by her dress code, she might be the one who looks after the house while the General is away. And I believe that she is now heading home.”

Emily instructed the driver, “You wait here. You will be paid for your service.”

“Alright,” he replied quickly.

Natasha and Emily got out of the car.

Slowly and softly the both of them tiptoed towards the house. Peeking through the window they saw General Rebecca chatting and playing games with a child who looked to be between 7 to 10 years old. The child was not really enthusiastic but General Rebecca persisted in making her happy and play along with the board games.

They expected to see the General’s husband in the house as they continued to tiptoe around the house and peeking through the windows but to their surprise; the husband was not present.

They waited, watched and hoped that the child and the General would get tired and go to bed.

Soon the clock struck 9:30pm, and it finally seemed as if the tiny family was getting ready to go to bed: The General escorted the child to the bedroom. Later, the General went to the bathroom to take a shower.

Meanwhile, Emily whispered to Natasha, “This looks like the best time for one of us to go inside the house. Since she is taking a shower, it will be close to impossible for her to hear anything.”

Natasha whispered back, “You will stay outside and be on the lookout. I will go inside and get whatever is needed. Make sure to notify me when she happens to walk in my direction, else we will be caught red handed.”

“How do I notify you?”

“I don't know. Just do anything, for as long as I know it's you.”

Slowly and quietly Natasha turned the door handle and tiptoed inside the house.

The house was bigger and more beautiful inside than it appeared outside. It was well organised with beautiful decorations on the walls: colourful paintings and portraits of General Rebecca and a little girl.

Carefully, Natasha tiptoed through the living room: from the living room she sneaked into the dining area and from the dining area she crouched into the bedroom.

It was a big room, a big space with different types of guns and weapon nailed to the wall. In a way the room looked like a dungeon, dark, scary and cold.

Nevertheless, sleeping comfortably on the queen sized bed was a little girl. She was pretty.

Natasha did not spend much time in the bedroom. She tiptoed out and walked into an office. It was well lit with a fluorescent build. There was a long brown desk which had drawers and an office chair, ancient bookshelves packed with great literature books and playful comics.

Without wasting much time, Natasha opened the drawers and began skimming through files and flipping through the papers, documents and reports. She shoved into her bag what seemed important. She was fast and also quiet not to make a sound.

It was not long before General Rebecca finished bathing. She wrapped herself in a white bathing towel and entered the bedroom. She changed into casual clothes and was heading towards her office.

When Natasha heard footsteps coming her way, she pondered deeply on what to do next. She began to panic; She looked around the room in hope of finding a suitable hiding spot. But unfortunately, there was no suitable closed space capable of hiding her.

Just then, there was a loud persistent knocking on the front door in the living room. General Rebecca quickly made a U-turn and walked in the living room to the front door.

Meanwhile, in the office, Emily was on the window giving signs to Natasha to leave the office immediately.

Natasha opened the office door and sneaked into the bedroom. She was waiting for General Rebecca to go back to the office so that she could exit the house through the front door.

When General Rebecca opened the front door in the livingroom, she didn't find anyone.

She called out, “Hello! Hello! Is anyone there?” Disgusted by the disturbance, she slammed the door and walked to the bedroom. She opened the door to the bedroom but did not enter, she only glanced at the child while standing by the door.

While this was happening, Natasha was hiding behind the door breathing very slowly and calmly. When General Rebecca saw that the child was still sleeping, she closed the door to the bedroom and finally walked into the office.

No sooner had General Rebecca entered her office than Natasha slowly opened the bedroom door and sneaked out of the house.

At last, Natasha took a deep breath. She was finally out of the house. She ran to Emily.

“That was close!” said Emily.

Natasha was still catching her breath, “Yes it was. But the good part is that we got what we came here for and we didn't get caught.”

“Let's get out of here!”

They both hurried to where they left the taxi only to find that the taxi was not there.

Emily got furious and said in anger, “I swear I'm going to kill that useless driver! I specifically asked him to wait for us, but he left. I will surely kill him.”

“Emily, you don't even know the driver. Forget about it, his gone. Let's try to look for another taxi.”

Emily replied, “It is very late, where on earth are we going to find another taxi that will drive us to Bratnom City at this time of the night? I don't think we will find a taxi that will drive us to Bob's house.”